Survivor: Twists & series summaries

Hi, I'm from the UK where Survivor was axed mainly due to being on a channel that couldn't schedule it and didn't want to pay out £1m to the winner of a show hardly anyone watched.

Anyway, I've been looking around a few Survivor websites but it's very hard to find details without going through pages and pages of episode guides.

Basically, I know the basic rules, but could anyone provide a summary of any twists which have been added over the seasons. I know that in one season the tribes were Male v Female and that often tribes are remixed at some point.

Also, a summary of some of the best challenges would be appreciated.

The only twist the second UK series had was where a viewers vote formed the seventh member of the jury, but this had no affect on the outcome as all the eliminated survivors voted for the same person.

In my opinion if incorporating a viewers vote when the tribes merge to 10 all eliminated contestants should go on the jury. When 3 remain they compete for a place in the final. The winner of immunity goes through to the final, with the jury deciding the other finalist. The viewers would then decide who wins. Anyway, that's unlikely to happen as US TV seem to have many more reality shows where the contestants control everything while in the UK it's the viewers (that's one of many reasons why Survivor didn't work in the UK)

Survivor 1: Pulau Tiga - This was your basic bread-and-butter Survivor game. Two tribes of 8, merge when there are 10 contestants left, and jury of 7 vote for winner on Day 39. The winner was Richard Hatch.

Survivor 2: The Australian Outback - This was much like the first Survivor. The game was extended to 42 days, with a tribal councail every 3 days for the first 39 days. On Day 41, the fourteenth person (and final jury member) was voted out, and on day 42, the jury voted for the winner. A second change, the votes were not revealed until a live show 6 months later, after the final episode aired on television (and all following U.S. Survivor games repeated this). The winner was Tina Wesson.

Survivor 3: Africa - Back to the 39 day format, this game was played on a wildlife reserve in Kenya, meaning that the Survivors really had no way of getting extra food, and pretty much confining the tribes to small briar bush enclosures. The only real twist this game was a tribe member swap on Day 13 or 14 in which each tribe had to send 3 members on an undisclosed adventure where they were given new buffs and a map to their new tribe. The winner was Ethan Zohn.

Survivor 4: Marquesas - This season, the survivors were given no food supplies, but their camps had plenty enough food to find and survive on. A tribe swap occured on Day 10, with the tribes at 5 (Maraamu) and 8 (Rotu) members, keeping the same number of members of each tribe, but randomly rearranging them. The winner was Vecepia Towery.

Survivor 5: Thailand - The first of two large twists occured before the game even began. The oldest male (Jake) and female (Jan) were put on separate tribes and given the opportunity to choose their buff colors (and by association, camp location and tribe name) and then their fellow tribemates. On Day 19, the tribes began living on the same beach. However, it would not be until Day 25 or 26 that they actually merged, possibly the worst and worst timed twist ever. The winner was Brian Heidik

Survivor 6: The Amazon - In this Survivor, the tribes were divided male (Tambaqui) and female (Jaburu). On day 14, the youngest members of each tribe (Dave and Jenna) then re-picked tribes, requiring 3 members of each tribe to switch tribes. A traditional merge occured on Day 19. The winner was Jenna Morasco.

Hope this helps, and feel free to correct me on anything I said wrong!